Led by banks, the Dow was down across the board as investors worried the stimulus plan wouldn’t be enough to help the economy.

The first rise in retail sales in seven months had buoyed futures but traders shrugged it off as regular trading got underway.

” The stimulus bill looks like a little bit of a wet blanket,” said Randy Frederick, director of trading and derivatives at Charles Schwab. “There is some concern that maybe this thing won’t work as well as expected.”

At the same time, Barack Obama, with the assistance of the liberal media, likened himself to Abraham Lincoln.

There was general disappointment in the stimulus and not joy across America.

Many of the stimulus provisions will take years to kick in and the economy, in the meantime, looks like it will continue to be flat or on a downward slope.

The public has low expectations for the package, with a large number of people feeling the package won’t have much effect on them.

After the troubles of the last few weeks it is not at all certain that the Obama hope remains alive — maybe it is on life support.

Pan Pylas of the Associate Press wrote today: “The raft of grim corporate news in Europe comes as the markets have largely given the thumbs-down to the passing of a $789 billion stimulus bill in Congress and U.S. Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner’s bank rescue plan, which could cost up to $2 trillion. On the Geithner plan, investors worried about the lack of detail, specifically the absence of any indications about how the banks’ toxic assets would be bought.”

Sudeep Reddy wrote in today’s Wall Street Journal, “The latest version of the economic-stimulus package is expected to provide less near-term support for the economy and make it less likely that the economy will pull itself out of recession before late this year.”

Andrew Taylor of the Associated Press wrote: “The $500-per-worker credit for lower- and middle-income taxpayers that Obama outlined during his presidential campaign was scaled back to $400 during bargaining by the Democratic-controlled Congress and White House. Couples would receive $800 instead of $1,000. Over two years, that move would pump about $25 billion less into the economy than had been previously planned.”

“Officials estimated it would mean about $13 a week more in people’s paychecks when withholding tables are adjusted in late spring. Critics say that’s unlikely to do much to boost consumption.”

Expect a full blown media swoon to tell us how great the stimulus really is — even if we don’t feel that way…